I have never been a fan of George Soros, the foreign billionaire entrepreneur whose sole purpose seems to be turn America into an European socialist wasteland. Yet I guess even someone like George can get something right once in a while. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. So while George maybe a broken clock, on this point he is right on time. The Move On membership, which is really the backbone of the Democratic party, has said that they don’t want Arlen Specter among their ranks.

Great leaders aren’t defined by consensus.

President Barack Obama has finished the second leg of his international confession tour. In less than 100 days, he has apologized on three continents for what he views as the sins of America and his predecessors.

Mr. Obama told the French (the French!) that America “has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive” toward Europe. In Prague, he said America has “a moral responsibility to act” on arms control because only the U.S. had “used a nuclear weapon.” In London, he said that decisions about the world financial system were no longer made by “just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy” — as if that were a bad thing. And in Latin America, he said the U.S. had not “pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors” because we “failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas.”

By confessing our nation’s sins, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that Mr. Obama has “changed the image of America around the world” and made the U.S. “safer and stronger.” As evidence, Mr. Gibbs pointed to the absence of protesters during the Summit of the Americas this past weekend.

That’s now the test of success? Anti-American protesters are a remarkably unreliable indicator of a president’s wisdom. Ronald Reagan drew hundreds of thousands of protesters by deploying Pershing and cruise missiles in Europe. Those missiles helped win the Cold War.

There is something ungracious in Mr. Obama criticizing his predecessors, including most recently John F. Kennedy. (“I’m grateful that President [Daniel] Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old,” Mr. Obama said after the Nicaraguan delivered a 52-minute anti-American tirade that touched on the Bay of Pigs.) Mr. Obama acts as if no past president — except maybe Abraham Lincoln — possesses his wisdom.

Mr. Obama was asked in Europe if he believes in American exceptionalism. He said he did — in the same way that “the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism.” That’s another way of saying, “No.”

Mr. Obama makes it seem as though there is moral equivalence between America and its adversaries and assumes that if he confesses America’s sins, other nations will confess theirs and change. But he won no confessions (let alone change) from the leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua or Russia. He apologized for America and our adversaries rejoiced. Fidel Castro isn’t easing up on Cuban repression, but he is preparing to take advantage of Mr. Obama’s policy shifts.

When a president desires personal popularity, he can lose focus on vital American interests. It’s early, but with little to show for the confessions, David Axelrod of Team Obama was compelled to say this week that the president planted, cultivated and will harvest “very, very valuable” returns later. Like what?

Meanwhile, the desire for popularity has led Mr. Obama to embrace bad policies. Blaming America for the world financial crisis led him to give into European demands for crackdowns on tax havens and hedge funds. Neither had much to do with the credit crisis. Saying that America’s relationship with Russia “has been allowed to drift” led the president to push for arms negotiations. But that draws attention away from America’s real problems with Russia: its invasion of Georgia last summer, its bullying of Ukraine, its refusal to join in pressuring Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions, and its threats of retaliation against the Poles, Balts and Czechs for standing with the U.S. on missile defense.

Mr. Obama is downplaying the threats we face. He takes comfort in thinking that Venezuela has a defense budget that “is probably 1/600th” of America’s — it’s actually 1/215th — but that hasn’t kept Mr. Chávez from supporting narcoterrorists waging war on Colombia (a key U.S. ally) or giving petrodollars to anti-American regimes. Venezuela isn’t likely to attack the U.S., but it is capable of harming American interests.

Henry Kissinger wrote in his memoir “Years of Renewal”: “The great statesmen of the past saw themselves as heroes who took on the burden of their societies’ painful journey from the familiar to the as yet unknown. The modern politician is less interested in being a hero than a superstar. Heroes walk alone; stars derive their status from approbation. Heroes are defined by inner values; stars by consensus. When a candidate’s views are forged in focus groups and ratified by television anchorpersons, insecurity and superficiality become congenital.”

A superstar, not a statesman, today leads our country. That may win short-term applause from foreign audiences, but do little for what should be the chief foreign policy preoccupation of any U.S. president: advancing America’s long-term interests.

Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview Friday on 365gay.com that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a “homophobe.”

“At some point, [the Defense of Marriage Act] is going to have to go to the United States Supreme Court,” Frank said. “I wouldn’t want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court.”

Frank also said in the interview that he thinks President Barack Obama will reverse the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the U.S. military.

“Absolutely,” Frank said, concerning the policy.

Frank also predicted that Obama and a Democratic majority in Congress will pass three pro-homosexual laws in the coming months and years, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that bans workplace discrimination because of sexual orientation; a hate crimes law for individuals who have had sex-change surgery; and a law to allow homosexuals to serve “openly” in the military.

“I think we will have the votes to pass ENDA, to pass hate crimes (law), and to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” Frank said in the video-interview.

President Barack Obama signs into law the State Children's Health Insurance Program in the East Room of the White House

Washington (AP) – President Barack Obama sees expansion of government health insurance to millions of lower-income children as a first step of several to come in providing coverage for all Americans.

Ending a two-year effort by Democrats, Obama signed legislation Wednesday that will allow about 7 million children to continue coverage through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and allow an additional 4 million to sign up.

“The way I see it, providing coverage to 11 million children through CHIP is a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American,” Obama said at a White House bill-signing ceremony.

The measure was similar to two bills vetoed by former President George W. Bush. It was pushed through both the House and Senate by Democrats eager to give Obama an early victory on health care.

Most lawmakers and advocacy groups in the health reform debate acknowledge that the next steps toward reform will be harder than expanding SCHIP, given the increasing federal deficit.

More ambitious changes envisioned by Obama will face entrenched interests in the health care community and Republicans who oppose expanding government-funded insurance.

“Republicans are committed to making health care more affordable, more accessible and offer more options to American families,” said Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. “Unfortunately, the only options we’ve seen so far this Congress would push us to a one-size-fits all government-run system.”

And not all Democrats are on the same page with Obama. Montana Sen. Max Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, plans to put together a bill that differs from the president’s goal of universal coverage.

Obama acknowledged the difficulties of reforming health care at Wednesday’s bill-signing ceremony “It won’t be easy; it won’t happen all at once,” the president said. “But this bill that I’m about to sign, that wasn’t easy either.”

Since August 2007, the House voted seven times to expand the children’s health insurance program. Opposition from Bush helped stiffen Republican resolve and helped block passage of the measures.

During final debate Wednesday before the bill passed the House, 290-135, Republicans criticized the cost of the measure. They also criticized allowing into the program an estimated 2.4 million children who otherwise might have access to private insurance.

“This debate is about, do we want a children’s health insurance program that covers every child in America with state and federal dollars regardless of their ability to pay?” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. “Do we want to freeze out the private sector for health insurance?”

But supporters said that ensuring children had access to adequate health care was a matter of priorities. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said an estimated 4 million people have lost employer-sponsored insurance in the past year.

“Do they keep their families’ health insurance or do they put food on the table at night? During this economic recession, these kinds of decisions are unfortunately becoming more common,” Pallone said.